jnm123 wrote:Come to think of it, there was ANOTHER place on Dempster around that time, just east of Crawford, called La Salade. It was like a cold & hot buffet, mostly vegetarian, with a cafeteria line-like deal, and your meal was weighed & priced up. I still dream of their brown rice with tofu, which one rarely would see around back in those days.

I really liked La Salade. At the time they were in operation, my office was directly across the street (in fact, La Salade was my tenant). In those days, my rotation during the week was Barnum & Bagel, La Salade and Poochie's. The owner eventually got married and decided to close the business.

stevez wrote:

jnm123 wrote:Come to think of it, there was ANOTHER place on Dempster around that time, just east of Crawford, called La Salade. It was like a cold & hot buffet, mostly vegetarian, with a cafeteria line-like deal, and your meal was weighed & priced up. I still dream of their brown rice with tofu, which one rarely would see around back in those days.

I really liked La Salade. At the time they were in operation, my office was directly across the street (in fact, La Salade was my tenant). In those days, my rotation during the week was Barnum & Bagel, La Salade and Poochie's. The owner eventually got married and decided to close the business.

La Salade was great in the first half of its life. Soups were great, lots of variety in the ingredients at the salad bar. Eventually it tapered off. Being that close to Pita Inn I'm surprised that never made it into your rotation.

spinynorman99 wrote:
La Salade was great in the first half of its life. Soups were great, lots of variety in the ingredients at the salad bar. Eventually it tapered off.

Yes. Once Cupid struck, the owner paid much less attention to the restaurant, eventually closing it entirely.

Dave148 wrote:

jnm123 wrote:Pie Lady, that address on Dempster in Skokie used to house a GREAT carry-out back in the '80's called Chicago Salad Co.

I'm fairly certain that the location formerly known as Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream was a Baskin Robbins/31 Flavors. Chicago Salad was next door.

You know, Dave, I think you're right. That Baskin-Robbins was my go-to for ice cream (along with the DQ farther east down Dempster) when my kids were little & we lived close by. Chicago Salad was next door. There was also North Shore Ticket Connection for scalped/'brokered' event tickets on the other side of BR I think. A funky little strip mall it was...

And yes, I do remember La Salade kind of going downhill towards the end. You're right, Pie Lady. Salads as a destination doesn't seem to work anymore, which IS a shame.

I'd love to have a salad destination place nearby for those days I need to buy lunch out. There are too many places near work to get a hot dog!

Pie Lady wrote:I'd love to have a salad destination place nearby for those days I need to buy lunch out. There are too many places near work to get a hot dog!

Sweet Tomatoes is about as close as it gets these days. I've taken the niece/nephew there a couple of times and it's not bad.

Skewerz, the "meat on a stick" place on Damen by the blue line L stop, is cleaned out and papered over. Looks like they left in a hurry.

The hungry masses are not weeping.

Pie Lady wrote:I'd love to have a salad destination place nearby for those days I need to buy lunch out. There are too many places near work to get a hot dog!

http://www.aokgourmet.com/ - made to order salads and sandwiches. In the strip mall across from the Swift.

Aha! I forgot about that place.

tem wrote:Skewerz, the "meat on a stick" place on Damen by the blue line L stop, is cleaned out and papered over. Looks like they left in a hurry.

The hungry masses are not weeping.

Wow, good riddance. The actual meat on a stick was OK, but.. ugh. Not a good place.

Also, there's yet another sushi place going in between the Caribou and AT&T store on Damen, just north of North ave. Just what the neighborhood needs.

Garden Fresh in Mount Prospect (Central and Rand) had announced it will be closing, citing "landlord issues" and the expansion of Walmart's food section not helping. The article in the Mount Prospect Journal says that the Wheeling outlet it's going quite well.

JoelF wrote:Garden Fresh in Mount Prospect (Central and Rand) had announced it will be closing, citing "landlord issues" and the expansion of Walmart's food section not helping. The article in the Mount Prospect Journal says that the Wheeling outlet it's going quite well.

Was the Arlington Heights location leased from the same landlord, or was it just coincidence that it closed in the last couple months?

I was only in the Arlington Heights location once, never in the others. I wasn't that impressed with it; maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but they didn't have an on-site butcher, right? The meat was packaged somewhere else? Something about that bothered me.

abe_froeman wrote:

JoelF wrote:Garden Fresh in Mount Prospect (Central and Rand) had announced it will be closing, citing "landlord issues" and the expansion of Walmart's food section not helping. The article in the Mount Prospect Journal says that the Wheeling outlet it's going quite well.

...
I was only in the Arlington Heights location once, never in the others. I wasn't that impressed with it; maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but they didn't have an on-site butcher, right? The meat was packaged somewhere else? Something about that bothered me.

No, they've got butchers there. At the AH location, they'd ground a leg of lamb for me (turning $4.99 LoL into $1.99 ground -- I was very pleasantly surprised they did that), and I've seen them working with meat through the glass at the MP location.

I'll definitely miss them. Although certain things are dubious (their fish, their stock of things like yogurt), their produce has been pretty consistently good, their meat is decent, and all at much lower prices than Randhurst's Jewel (which I despise for everything but dry goods). The AH Mariano's is probably the next-closest supermarket, or perhaps the Des Plaines Shop 'n' Save.

Yeah, the Randhurst Jewel has a good baking aisle compared to most other grocery stores. That's about all it has going for it.

I'm lucky enough to work in Barrington, so on my commute on Rand Road, I pass two Trader Joe's, Caputo's, Fresh Market, Costco, several eastern European stores and with a little detour, a Mexican grocery store. The only thing I don't think I pass is an Asian grocery store.

I seem to be the bearer of bad shopping tidings this week. Asia Super, on Milwaukee just North of Greenwood, appears to be closed: no lights on and some sort of orange sticker on the door.

This was the first Korean grocery I'd ever shopped at, long preceding the other Niles-area stores such as Assi Plaza and H-Mart. That's three stores lost on that intersection: Farmers something or other has been gone for a while, and another Korean market has been a restaurant for a couple years. The neighborhood has gained Super Tony's and GFS, but I feel like some of the uniqueness had been lost from North Niles.

Distinctive Cork, a fun wine bar in Naperville, has closed. I guess it had a pretty good run.

City Island, Flavors for Life, a restaurant that was open for a couple of months in Naperville at the old Boston Blackie site, seems to have closed.

stevez wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I was at Ramova Grill this morning for my first (of two) breakfasts. They have extended their closed for good date to mid-May. By the end of May, they have to be completely gone.

I did get my Ramova Grill t-shirt for $12.

Regards,

When we were there on the Chowathon, they told me it might even be the middle of June before they close. I think it's still a little bit up in the air. Either way, they are closing soon and I'll miss them. I did get the impression that there is a better than average chance that the son will be reopening at a new location at some point, but not immediately after closing their present location. I was assured, with a sly smile, that the chili recipe will not completely disappear.

We have until the end of the month.



Stopped by today and had a burger and The Mother-In-Law...



My Bride had bacon and eggs. She thought the Chili was a too sweet. Everything else was fine.


Cool old phone booth in the back.

shorty wrote:When I went to the Long Grove Chocolate Fest to pick up some Apple Haus apple cider donuts, I noticed that M. Belle's Pie & Bake Shop took over the space where Apple Haus used to occupy (in Long Grove). Note: the Apple Haus donuts are sold in limited quantities at the Long Grove Chocolate Fest.

I stopped in there on Saturday while picking up some Mother's Day presents at one of the Irish stores. Mr. Maki and I just needed a snack, so we split a chicken salad sandwich and a mini banana cream pie. Everything was really good. The chicken salad was big chunks of chicken, dried tart cherries, pecans, local honey and a little mayo. The pie had great crust and the filling was excellent. The topping on it was Swiss meringue- it was like homemade Marshmallow Fluff.

Chicago Meat Market Changes their name to Butcher Block

Here's what they say:

"BUTCHER BLOCK SPECIALTIES, INC. IS A TRADITIONAL, OLD-WORLD BUTCHER SHOP IN THE MODERN DAY.
We bring you the finest prime beef, fresh poultry, lamb, veal and pork that we select from a handful of small Midwestern farms we know and trust. "

I wonder if this means they switched who their suppliers were of if this a new marketing angle to play up the trend in "old world butcher"?

Butcher Block Specialties
Categoría: Carnicero
3021 N Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
Barrio: Cragin
(773) 777-7117
http://www.butcherspecialties.com

The old website was:

http://web.archive.org/web/201102021817 ... arket.com/

Nuevo Taco Loco on Lawrence between Hermitage and Paulina is papered over and cleaned out. The food was a bit pricey and never appeared to draw a huge lunch crowd.

Nuevo Taco Loco A.K.A El Taco Loco
1724-26 W. Lawrence Avenue Chicago, IL 60640

kenji wrote:Chicago Meat Market Changes their name to Butcher Block

Here's what they say:

"BUTCHER BLOCK SPECIALTIES, INC. IS A TRADITIONAL, OLD-WORLD BUTCHER SHOP IN THE MODERN DAY.
We bring you the finest prime beef, fresh poultry, lamb, veal and pork that we select from a handful of small Midwestern farms we know and trust. "

I wonder if this means they switched who their suppliers were of if this a new marketing angle to play up the trend in "old world butcher"?

Butcher Block Specialties
Categoría: Carnicero
3021 N Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
Barrio: Cragin
(773) 777-7117
http://www.butcherspecialties.com

The old website was:

http://web.archive.org/web/201102021817 ... arket.com/

Wow, very interesting. I don't remember ever seeing prime beef there before. Did I just miss it? I also never thought to buy outer skirt or flap there.

gleam wrote:Wow, very interesting. I don't remember ever seeing prime beef there before. Did I just miss it? I also never thought to buy outer skirt or flap there.

I never saw prime grade there either. But for that, Josephs is just 5-10 minutes down Addison:

Joseph's Finest Meats. Address: 7101 W Addison St Chicago IL 60634; Phone: (773) 736-3766; josephsfinestmeats.com.

Was finally getting through some two-week-old newspapers and saw this article about Ramova Grill for anyone who missed it:

http://www.suntimes.com/12180370-417/so ... close.html

Pastoral to open bistro concept in East Lakeview -
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... z1uzmMN5F9

kenji wrote:

gleam wrote:Wow, very interesting. I don't remember ever seeing prime beef there before. Did I just miss it? I also never thought to buy outer skirt or flap there.

I never saw prime grade there either. But for that, Josephs is just 5-10 minutes down Addison:

Joseph's Finest Meats. Address: 7101 W Addison St Chicago IL 60634; Phone: (773) 736-3766; josephsfinestmeats.com.

Yeah. Sadly, as much as I love Joseph's, their open hours and my shopping hours rarely overlap

At the location of my beloved Jerk Grill (that did not survive the new ownership) at ...

6814 W North Ave

Costa's Oakbrook Terrace. Anyone know what happened. My co-worker just went to pick up a donation for our March of Dimes event and the door is padlocked? We've eaten there many times for work functions. Thanks for any info.
Janey

Costa's
1 S 130 Summit Ave
Oakbrook Terrace
60181

WestRidgeFoodie wrote:

PortPkPaul wrote:Sadly, looks like La Amistad on Montrose near Wolcott has closed. I thought it better than your average burrito place, and their pico was made fresh.

http://www.centersquarejournal.com/lead ... d-for-good

Drove past there yesterday and there is a handwritten sign that says La Amistad will be returning soon. This was on the outside of the papered over windows...

Looks like it was true, La Amistad on Montrose is open once again. Walked past a little after lunch and they had quite a few tables going.

La Amistad
1914 W Montrose Ave

Krakus Homemade Sausage, at Milwaukee and Lawrence has closed. Rumor has it, Gene's will be opening a satellite store in the same address soon.

Rapa Nui (fomerly Latin Sandwich Cafe) on Elston at Irving Park is closed and papered over. I'm kinda sad but kinda not sad about it. The interior was a little run-down and the food wasn't that great (except their excellent baked empanadas), but there was still something endearing about the place. I had doubts about its long-term survival once it was announced that El Llano was opening up literally next door.

Anyway, they had a "Restaurant For Sale" sign up for a couple months and it looks like they found a buyer; a sign in the window indicates that another Chilean restaurant will open up in its place. I didn't catch the name of the forthcoming restaurant as I passed it. I'll do another drive-by and post an update.